Envelope



June 8, 1937. w. K. RAMSEY ENVELOPE Original Filed Oct. 24, 1932 I Patented June 8, 1937 ENVELOPE Webster K. Ramsey, Worcester, Mass., assignor to United States Envelope Company, Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Maine Application October 24, 1932, SeriaLNo. 639,256 Renewed June 5, 1935 4 Claims. (01. 229-85) The present invention relates generally to envelopes and, more particularly, to a closure or sealing means for same which, while affording a sumciently secure retention of the envelopes contents, nevertheless always permits, with unfailing certainty, the quick and complete opening of the sealed envelope pocket.

Such quick and complete opening of a sealed envelope pocket is especially desirable in situations that require the handling and emptying of a considerable number of envelopes,as for example, envelopes, usually of the multi-compartment type, used for church collections or like purposes. When such envelope pockets are adhesively sealed in the ordinary fashion, much time and labor must be expended by the church treasurer, or other person entrusted with the task of emptying the same, since tearing along an edge thereof may mutilate or destroy any inclosed paper money or check, and. since the glued seam produced by ordinary sealing ofiers practically as much resistance to opening as any of the permanent seams of the envelope- My invention-allows a handler of these envelopes to empty the same with the utmost rapidity and ease, without resort to any time-consuming expedients, such as cutters or other opening devices, that are required to effect the complete opening of envelopes sealed in the ordinary fashion. Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent in the following detailed description thereof, reference being had in this connection to the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a rear view, partly broken away, of 5 an envelope embodying my invention, before its closure flaphas been sealed.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating the envelope in sealed condition.

Fig. 4 is a section on the, line 44 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a rear view of said envelope, after its sealedclosure flap has been pulled open.

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Figs. 7 and 8 are views similar to Figs. 1 and 5,

form usually employed for church-collection envelopes, the blank for the same providing foldedin end flaps I, I and a rectangular back wall flap 2, the latter at its edges overlapping and adhesively secured, as at 3, 3, to the flaps l, l. The envelope's back wall, formed in large part by said flap 2 has a central adhesive attachment 4 to the front wall 5 of the envelope, thus to provide the latter with two pockets-or compartments each opening alongsthe free edge 6 of said back wall. The front wall 5 provides the usual closure flap I, which is foldable on the line 8 for the sealing, as hereinafter described, of both compartments; the usual weakening or perforation of the material, as indicated at 9, permits the structure thus formed to be divided, when desired, into its two component parts, each in the form of a complete inclosure for its contents, as is usual in devices of this class.

:According to my invention, the back wall of each pocket or compartment is provided near its free edge 6 with a cut or slit l3, each slit being preferably of approximately U-shaped form, widening outwardly from its intermediate longitudinal portion. Also, preferably, each slit I3, at interv ls along its length, has narrow interruptions breaks l5, where the back wall material is not completely severed. Said slits l3 terminate short of the free edge 6 of said back wall, being spaced from said edge by unsevered sections of material, as indicated at l6, l6, Fig. 1. On the closure flap 1, instead of the usual gumming or adhesive extending clear to the outer or free edge of said flap, my invention provides gumming or adhesive, shown at l0, l0, Fig. 1, which is spaced inwardly from said outer edge, leaving the latter free, when the flap is scaled down, to serve as a pull tab for the opening up of each envelope pocket, as hereinafter described. The gumming or adhesive I0 is so located on closure flap 1 that when the latter is folded down-on line 8, said gumming (previously moistened for sealing purposes) will contact the envelopes back wall between the latters free edge 6 and the slits l3, l3; in this condition, the closure flaps ungummed outer edge 'I' overlies and projects slightly beyond said slits. Preferably, as shown in Fig. 1, the gumming I0 is shaped to conform substantially to the slits l3, l3, said gumming having an outer portion l2 adapted to register with the intermediate part of each slit, and an inner portion H, spaced from the fold.line 8 and conforming substantially to the widened-out part of the slit.

When the gumming III is moistened in the usual way, and the flap I then folded down against the back wall, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, said flap 1 is held firmly in closed position, since the areas of adhesion are practically as great as in an envelope having its seal flap gummed in the ordinary fashion. It will be understood in this connection that my invention is not limited to any particular number of gummed areas In; as many may be provided as the length of the closure flap makes expedient. The elongation of the portions II, II of the areas I0 gives the seal an over-all length practicallyas great as of the envelope the amount of money which he wishes to give to the particular church activity designated on the face or front of said pocket; thereafter, when the envelopes of all contributors have been collected, it devolves upon the church treasurer, or other custodian of the collected funds, to keep separate, for counting or totalling purposes at least, the contributions directed to one designated church activity from those directed to the other designated church activity. This is done in the usual manner by dividing each of the collected envelopes on its weakened or tearing line 9, so that all the envelope pockets of a given designation can be collected or assembled separately from those of the other designation. Then, each pocket, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, can be readily and completely opened, for the emptying out of its contents, by an upward pull on the free edge 1' of its sealed-down closure flap,-the gumming H], by its location inwardly of said edge, permitting the latter to be seized. Such pull results in no appreciable tearing apart of the adhesively-connected surfaces, such as might leave the pocket only partly open, and thus interfere with the emptying out of its contents; on the contrary, said upward pull leaves said adhesive connection practically undisturbed, because the back wall material, on account of its slit l3 at the boundary of the adhesive area, gives way readily under said pull at the points l5, I5 and at the narrow sections I6, I6, by which the terminals of each slit l3 are spaced inwardly of the edge 6. In consequence, the closure flap comes loose from the back wall with a portion I! of the latter adhering to it, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, thus effecting a complete opening of the pocket which allows its contents to be readily emptied out.

Figs. 7 and 8 represent the application of my invention to a single compartment envelope, wherein the back wall is constituted by triangular end flaps l8, l8 and a triangular bottom fiap l9. U-shaped cuts 20, 20, with their terminals spaced from the free upper edges of the flaps l8, l8 provide weakened zones with which are brought into substantial registry the gummed areas 2|, 2| on the closure flap 22, when the latter is folded on line 23. With this closure flap sealed down, an upward pull applied to its ungummed free edge causes the material to tear at the narrow sections 24, 24 between the terminals of slits 20, 20 and the upper edge of the back wall,thus

completely freeing the closure flap from the back wall and opening the envelope for the full length of said flap.

I claim:

1. An envelope having a closure flap on one wall foldable over the opposite wall to close the opening of the envelope, the edge portion of the last-named wall at each side of the medial line thereof being provided with a cut-out tongue extending away from the opening and the flap of the envelope having spots of adhesive located in such a position as to engage the aforesaid tongues, with said tongues and adhesive constituting the sole sealing means for the envelope flap.

A quick-opening envelope having a closure flap on its front wall foldable over the rear wall to close the mouth of the envelope, the sole sealing means for said closure flap being "constituted by one or more limited areas of gumming on said flap which register substantially with areas defined by one or more slits extending along the edge portion of the rear\ wall at each side of the medial line thereof, with the adhesive connection between said gumming and each slit-defined rear wall area serving to remove an integral portion of the free edge of the rear wall in instant response to a pull on the flap and thereby free said flap.

3. Duplex envelope comprising a body having front and back faces closed at the sides and bottom and having an opening at the top, the front face having a flap foldable over said opening, said front and back faces being pasted together along a transverse strip forming side-by-side pockets, said flap and the body of the envelope having a transverse line of weakness extending intermediately along the said pasted strip, the back face of said envelope having longitudinal slits at a distance'from the edge of said opening, and discontinuous over said pasted strip, said flap having a longitudinally extending gummed area at a distance from its free edge adapted to contact the back of said envelope between said slits and the edge of the opening, the free part of said flap between said gummed area and the free edge overlying said slits when said envelope is sealed.

4. Duplex envelope comprising a body having front and back faces closed at the sides and bottom and having an opening at the top, the front face having a flap foldable over said opening, said front and back faces being pasted together along a transverse strip forming side-by-side pockets, said flap and the body of the envelope having a transverse line of weakness extending intermediately along the said pasted strip, the back face of said envelope having slits at a distance from the edge of said opening to provide partially severed areas in a marginal zone of said back face, said sli ts being discontinuous over said pasted strip, said flap having seal gumming at a distance from its free edge, which gumming when said flap is folded down to close said opening is adapted to adhere to such marginal zone areas between said slits and the edge of the opening without appreciable overlapping of said slits, the outer ungummed part of said flap between said gumming and the flaps free edge overlying and projecting beyond said slits when said envelope is sealed.

WEBSTER K. RAMSEY. 

